how to make long-life food that lasts 25years...?

Mabon · Post by **Mabon** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:07 pm

does anyone have any information regarding links to or about how to 'make your own' long shelf life meals and how to store them in in aluminium laminate foil pouches or tins and what technology/tools are needed for this process, i feel that most long life foods online are too expensive and would rather make my own so this is really a request for knowledge... i can share many ebooks by way of payment...

C4tch · Post by **C4tch** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:13 pm

I suppose that the difficulty in packaging is part of the cost you pay for such a long life food source. Mountain house use nitrogen flushing to remove 98% of oxygen. Where I work we use a similar thing to extend the life of packaged drinks. The packaging machine is worth in the £200k range. This is not for a particularly big machine either. You then have the gas to buy etc etc. can't see a simple way to nitrogen flush food either. At least with bottles it's simply prefilling with gas and then liquid goes in with some combination of vacuum, after which the lid is applied...

As far as I can see its all about removing the most amount of oxygen possible with packaging that will not degrade over time. Again in the case of mountain house they enamel coat both inside and out of their long life cans. Again expensive and reflected in the price we pay...

I think I would much rather spend all that setup cost on growing fresh if at all possible...

C

Moony · Post by **Moony** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:19 pm

Actually nitrogen flushing isn't that difficult.
1) Put stuff in container with lid open
2) Put lump of dry ice on top (this is frozen Nitrogen, not water

)
3) Wait for it to melt (the gas produced will sink and displace the air (incl oxygen))
4) Seal container

The machine described by the previous post uses gas rather than dry ice as it's alot quicker than this method and therefore suitable for mass production.

For your food to last 25 years however you will need to do alot more than this. You'd need to dehydrate or freeze dry it and find a decent container that will not degrade nor allow any gases to enter for 1/4 of a century, this isn't something easily done in the home. For simpler foods mylar bags and oxygen absorbers will work fine (see many posts elsewhere on this forum on this subject), however for complete meals it's generally beyond the capability of most households.

tigs · Post by **tigs** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:51 am

i watched Jamie and jimmy's food fight last night on it jimmy vacuum packed several meals and had them irradiated then put them in a time capsule. apparently they will last for ever in perfect condition with all the nutrients intact?

firepower · Post by **firepower** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 8:53 am

Glow in the dark food, yummy

ATB
Mick

TorNicho · Post by **TorNicho** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:03 am

The use UV light to kill all the bacteria on plastic cutlery after bagging. Maybe this practice will extend the life of packaged food if combined with other preservation techniques.

Moony · Post by **Moony** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 9:31 am

UV only kills the bacteria on the surface, so it's fine for cutlery but useless for food as it won't penetrate at all and will leave the majority of bacteria in the food. Radiation treatment is very effective buts suffers from consumers being very mistrustful (see firepower's illuminating comment

), and due to very strict controls and cost implications it isn't practical to use yourself, though I might check out jamie+jimmy's programme and see how he arranged that, could be interesting.

Mabon · Post by **Mabon** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:06 pm

some really interesting points here.

i know that one method of sterilization of food in aluminium laminate foil pouches is to cook it to death in the bag to kill off any germs and/or bacteria but i never knew about some of the processes mentioned above. just goes to show why they are so expensive to buy in tins and pouches.

i think i will buy a dehumidifier oven as they are not too expensive and use some of the processes mentioned to seal the meals in aluminium laminate foil pouches then just add water to make them, hopefully this will allow me to gain knowledge in prepping food throughout the year if something bad happens.

thanks for all of your responses

C4tch · Post by **C4tch** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 2:44 pm

I think that's a great idea and one you can then rely on in the long term should things go wrong. Maybe experiment with solar dehydrators and such to make it even more shtf proof.

C

Post by **diamond lil** » Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:42 pm

Or maybe aim for long term but not 25yrs? Maybe get the dehydrator and use it on veg, add that to lentils and barley and you have broth mix. Use it on fruit like apples and bananas, add that to porridge oats and you have muesli or add syrup and you have cereal bars.

uk-preppers.co.uk